


Quality time

by musterings



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Two guys chat in an elevator, Valentine's Day, both are oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musterings/pseuds/musterings
Summary: Gladio lands himself an unlikely Valentine's day date.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Quality time

The silence of the Citadel was eerie no matter how often Gladio had made the excursion to the normally bustling building on a Sunday, the last place anyone else would want to be with Monday on the horizon. 

Gladio scoffed as he locked the gym doors behind him.

Gym bag hiked up on his shoulder, his hoodie zipped all the way up, he took the elevator to the floor to his office, grabbing a few files to look over before Monday, before making a longer trip back to the elevator.

One that passed by Ignis’s office door.

The door was closed, the frosted glass betraying the darkness inside. No signs of life. As it should on a Sunday afternoon, moreso than any other Sunday afternoon. 

Gladio sighed.

Kicking the carpet in front of Ignis's door, Gladio zipped back to the elevator and slammed the button that called the elevator to his floor. 

After a gentle beep, the elevator doors slid open. 

“Gladio?” Ignis said. 

“Ignis?” Gladio blurted out, with just as much surprise Ignis would've thought Gladio was mocking him. 

For the first time in the twenty-three years of his life, was the universe actually listening in on his thoughts? 

“What are you doing here?” said Ignis. A large cardigan engulfed him, obscuring what had to be _not_ a button down, if the lack of a proper shirt collar was to be believed, while his hair was left to fall above his eyes in soft waves. It made him look vulnerable, cute even. Close to how Gladio would have imagined Ignis would look the morning after he would spend the night; the night consisting of a hearty dinner that settled well, a movie at home they could both dissect and insult in equal parts in bed after hours of passionate lovemaking.

Ignis raised an eyebrow.

 _Shit_. _Can he hear my thoughts too?_

The elevator doors began to slide closed and Ignis shot an arm out to stop them. “Are you getting in or what?”

“Shit, sorry,” Gladio mumbled before he hastily jumped into the elevator. The doors slid closed and that painful but familiar jingle started up.

"You were saying?" said Ignis. 

“Grabbed some work from my desk I forgot I needed,” said Gladio. He reached over to press the button for the parking lot, but it already glowed white. Gladio mentally pumped his fist. “The gym facilities are better here too.”

“You know what I mean,” said Ignis, his lips curling into a sly smile. “What are you doing _here_? _Today,_ of all days, _you_ , of all people, and _here_ , of all places?”

Gladio let out a puff of air from his lips. “Valentine’s Day? You know that’s just a capitalist construct now right? It’s all about cashing in on people’s insecurities and their innate fear of being unloved.”

Ignis chuckled. “Did you come up with that yourself?”

“No,” Gladio said with a sheepish grin, his heart beating to the rhythm of fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Anything sounded better than “ _I wanted to ask you out on this capitalist construct of a holiday and it would have been the cheesiest fucking thing but I chickened out at the eleventh hour._ He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. “It’s what Iris was tellin’ us over breakfast this morning,” he added, leaving out the part that Iris was only saying it to placate her lovelorn brother. 

“She’s always been a smart one that Iris,” said Ignis with a smile.

"She's getting at that age." 

The elevator smoothly moved down three, four floors, and Gladio blessed his and Ignis’s positions that they could have offices on a floor so high up, that this fated meeting should occur at this very moment.

“What about you? What are you doing here?” Gladio said leaning on the hand railing, casually he hoped, but his hand had missed and then he hoped Ignis hadn’t noticed how he almost toppled to the ground had he not actually caught the railing the second time. Railing secure in hand, he opted for examining his nails instead. “Don't you have any hot date plans for tonight?”

Ignis let out a snort. “Who, me?”

“Yeah, sure, of course you,” said Gladio, rolling his eyes ‘cus that’s what relaxed friends do in this situation. He punched Ignis’s shoulder. _That’s it, Gladio, play it up_. “Bet ya had a waitlist starting last year or somethin’.”

“Oh please." Ignis said with a laugh. Gladio could listen to that laugh with the same elevator music played behind it for the rest of his life given the choice. “I like my quiet Sunday evenings. I won’t be giving them up anytime soon, capitalist holidays be damned. And besides”—Ignis adjusted the bag slung over his own shoulder, probably chock full of files _he_ needed for his work—“I think I sufficiently show the people in my life that I care about them in my own way, in my own time.”

“That’s real sweet of you," said Gladio, who was so sure now that he would marry this man someday. He cleared his throat, then added, "I mean, wow I didn't think someone like _you_ could say something so sappy."

"I suppose you're right, the title of hopeless romantic is more suited to you now isn't it?" said Ignis. 

"I don't need you beating me in any other arena, you're better than me at everything else as it is," said Gladio. He stared up into a corner on the ceiling. "So, uh, was there really a waitlist?" 

"You'd be surprised. Though if anyone actually stood out, I would’ve considered freeing up this evening, but none did this year, I’m afraid." 

“You must have some pretty high standards.”

“It’s more that it wasn’t the right applicants this year,” said Ignis, tapping the bottom of his lip with one finger. “Oh well. Maybe next year."

The elevator came to a stop at the parking lot and Gladio’s heart did that flip it always did whenever an elevator stopped; supposedly it had something to do with inertia and the laws of physics or something, but it also tended to happen to Gladio when Ignis was involved in any capacity, so the jury’s out on that one.

“Well, my car’s up there,” said Gladio, the high from an elevator ride, that went on forever yet not long enough, wearing off in the cold, near empty parking lot. “I’ll see you tomorrow right?”

Ignis nodded. 

Fumbling with his pockets for his car keys, Gladio turned away, quick to hide his disappointment for their time together ending so soon.

“Wait a moment Gladio,” Ignis called out. 

Gladio stopped in his tracks, and Ignis closed the distance between them with long strides, with those long legs of his— _Keep it in your pants Gladio, he’s wearing chinos for crying out loud._

In _beige._

“Yeah?”

“You never did answer my question,” said Ignis, his expression stern. “About what you were doing tonight.”

Gladio blinked slowly at the man in front of him. 

“Nothing actually,” said Gladio, his cheeks pooling with heat. _Make up an excuse, come up with a lie that doesn’t sound sad and kinda lonely, anything_ — “Go home, do some mobility work, read up on my meeting notes for tomorrow. Read a book. Fall asleep. Y’know," Gladio shrugged, "say _fuck you_ to capitalism."

“Oh, that’s lovely then,” said Ignis. “Just this morning I found myself in the quandary that I had overdone dinner preparations. Far too much beef in the slow cooker, you can imagine—far too much ragout for one person. I could freeze the rest but it always tastes better fresh and it’d be a shame not to share a demonstration of my cooking skills at its best with someone else.”

"It helps to have a witness when you wanna boast, I get ya," said Gladio, his heart working faster than it ever had that entire day, and that day he had actually done some _cardio_. "Sure, I can come around. If that's what you meant. Like. You were asking me. Not that you were asking me to find someone else to taste test ragout for you, cus if that's the case I can do that, ask some friends—" 

"Yes, I meant you," said Ignis. His grip tightened around his own set of car keys. "If you had nothing on, since you mentioned you'll be working, and I figured, _I'll_ be working too." His shoulders slowly relaxed and he met Gladio's eyes, his gaze a cartoon arrow straight out of a Valentines greeting card striking right into Gladio's heart. "It might be nice to spend that time with a bit of company." 

"Oh," said Gladio softly. "Sure. Cool. That's cool. I'll head back to mine first then I'll um, see you at yours?" 

"Come over whenever you're ready," said Ignis, his smile blinding, enough to brighten many of Gladio's gray days to come. "We can say fuck you to capitalism together." 

_Note to self: ask Iris if that's practically a marriage proposal._

**Author's Note:**

> i havent been able to manage a bday fic for ignis so this is my offering for now while i try to grease the gears and find the time to write in my currently hectic schedule
> 
> hope y'all are doing well


End file.
